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Video: Where is Casey Anthony?

Closed captioning of: Where is Casey Anthony?

>>>begin with
caseyanthony
, a
free woman
today. her whereabouts, a secret. nbc's
kerry sanders
is outside the
orange county
jail. kerry, good morning.

>> reporter: well, good morning,
ann
. after being solitary in a cell here for three years and one day, late on the -- early on sunday morning,
caseyanthony
left the jail here. she got into a gray
suv
, was pursued for a short time by news helicopters and then
caseyanthony
vanished. flanked by her attorney,
caseyanthony
, wearing a bright pink shirt, skinny jeans and sneakers mouthed a simple thank you to one of the armed officers at the jail, and this just 15 seconds, she was out the front door. amid protesters' calls,
casey
made her way to an awaiting
suv
, where she flashed a slim smile, and then she and her crews sped off. some gathered here still angry at her acquittal. some chase on foot, while from above, news helicopters follow the gray suburban.

>>she is not worth the
time of day
. after tonight, she is dead in my room. she's gone.

>> reporter: the unusually
high level
of security, including mounted patrols, was put in place after
casey
's lawyers said she had received repeated death threats. the gray suburban escape vehicle, unlike that other famous chase of the white bronco on california's 405, gave airborne cameramen the slip among the buildings in
downtown orlando
. it's believed
casey
went to her attorney's office, but for a while, it appeared the
suv
had driven on to the tarmac at a city airport, where a
private jet
took off. faa records show the plane went to columbus, ohio. but there's no passenger manifest to reveal if it
casey
was on board. where did
casey
go? her attorneys won't say, her brother won't say, her parents won't say.

>>we're out here for caylee.

>> reporter: sunday, people gathered here where caylee's remains were found, all with a shared sense of anguish.

>>i just keep thinking about little caylee, and how sad that her sweet little life -- she wasn't even 3 years old, and this is what she had to go through. and it just breaks my heart. i just wanted to honor this
little girl
's memory.

>> reporter: cindy is
caseyanthony
's mother. now, her attorney tells nbc news that when she was watching on tv, that plane on the tarmac, she texted
jose
baez,
caseyanthony
's attorney, and said, "is my daughter on that plane," and she got back two simple words. "she's safe."
jose
baez,
defense attorney
, had asked george and cindy
anthony
,
casey
's parents, to get into a vehicle to create a decoy vehicle, to draw people away from wherever
casey
was going, but they declined. so this morning,
caseyanthony
is free. whereabouts, unknown.
ann
? is .

>>well, not a whole lot more than
jose
is, other than she is safe, and we are confident about that. and very comfortable with it.

>>can you confirm she boarded a plane?

>>i will not confirm she boarded a plane or flew on her own. she's gone, she's safe and elaborate plans had to be made to keep the people away from her.

>>elaborate plans. what kind of life will she have there?

>>well, i'm sure that you know as well as anybody else, her life is going to be very difficult for a very long time. as long as there are so many people of a
lynch mob
mentality and those willing to deny the fact that a jury found her not guilty, she is going to have issues. even without that, she's got issues of dealing with the loss of her child, which she has not gotten over, and probably never will. and the fact that she spent three years locked up in a cage. this is very psychologically expensive for a
human being
, and it will take a while for her to adjust.

>>will she have security?

>>yes. she will have security. she has security.

>>who is funding her life, sir?

>>volunteers. we've had an outpouring of people offering their time and whatever they can do to try to help her. lots of people in this country, despite the mobs, do, in fact, believe in the constitution and presumption of innocence and lots of people are trying to help her.

>>you mentioned these mobs. is there any part of you that understands why people can't let this go? why people are upset that she is free?

>>well, yes, i do. and the good part about it is that there are those protections in our government that allow people to express their opinions, no matter how strong they are. there's a winner and a loser in most of these contests, except this one is a lot of losing. the fact of the matter is, there are people that are going to be upset based a lot on their ignorance or intolerance. and as i said,
lynch mob
[ female announcer ] think

ORLANDO, Fla. — The lawyer who defended Casey Anthony has reportedly urged people to start "respecting the jury verdict," after she was found not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, prompting a public outcry.

Anthony's July 5 acquittal shocked and enraged many around the country who had been following the case since Caylee's 2008 disappearance. Anger has spilled onto social media sites and elsewhere.

Her legal team said on Friday it had received an emailed death threat.

Anthony did not report her daughter's disappearance for a month and was arrested after telling a string of lies about the case to police. Caylee's remains were found in December 2008 near the home Casey Anthony shared with her parents.

Prosecutors alleged that Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her desire for a carefree life, but her lawyers said the girl drowned in an accident that snowballed out of control.

Some of the jurors who acquitted Anthony said they believe she bears some responsibility for her daughter's death but that prosecutors failed to prove that she murdered the child.

Casey Anthony's whereabouts for her first week of freedom were a closely guarded secret Monday, known only to a select few as she tries to start a new life. Speculation was rife online about where she had gone: Prescott, Arizona, Columbus, Ohio, or San Carlos, California.

Her options could be limited, though, by lawsuits pending against her, the scorn of multitudes who think she was guilty of the killing and a criminal record from her convictions for lying to police.

Baez told Fox News that her lawyers are "certainly exploring all possibilities right now" when he was asked about whether she would enter a residential therapy program.

He'd previously said that he hoped she could get counseling and treatment. Baez said he was foremost concerned about Anthony's safety, and struck out at media commentators who have been condemning Anthony as guilty despite the jury's verdict.

Experts who have helped other notorious defendants through rough times say she will have opportunities, but it won't be easy for the 25-year-old, who was but convicted of lying to investigators.

"Casey is in good hands," said Todd Macaluso, a former member of Anthony's defense team who declined to comment further.

'Dignified'Asked if Anthony planned to cash in on her fame, Baez said she has "certain rights as an individual in this country." Attorneys planned to handle Anthony's affairs in a "dignified manner," he said.

"If she decides she wants to speak publicly about it, she'll make that decision," he said.

Baez did not respond Sunday to email and phone messages left by The Associated Press, nor did a lawyer representing her father and mother. And in the Fox News interview, Baez declined to talk about his client's whereabouts or state of mind.

Another former Anthony lawyer, Terry Lenamon, said he had no clue where she was headed, and that probably only a few people close to her knew.

"I wouldn't want anyone to know," he said. "I think she needs to go underground and I think she needs to spend some time to get her life back together."

Anthony's public vilification did not ease with her release from jail. "A baby killer was just set free!" Bree Thornton, 39, shouted as the SUV left the jail.

It won't be impossible for Anthony to get a fresh start, though it will be difficult, said Los Angeles-based attorney Thomas Mesereau. His clients have included the late singer Michael Jackson when he was charged with child molestation and actor Robert Blake when he was charged with murdering his wife.

Paid interviews?Anthony could accept requests for paid interviews, or a benefactor may be able to help her in the short term, Mesereau said.

"When you have that degree of celebrity, there is usually somebody who would like to get involved," Mesereau said. "The problem is trusting anyone. People are willing to leak things to the media. They're willing to be paid off for information. It's very difficult to find people whom you can trust."

Casey Anthony's relationship with her parents is strained. During trial, Anthony's defense attorneys argued that her father, George Anthony, molested Casey as a child and covered up Caylee's death. He has denied both claims, and neither has been substantiated.

"Last night we got a call from Mr. Baez ... he had wanted to use my clients as decoys for the media and I, of course, did not agree with that and neither did my clients," Lippman reportedly said. "One, it was risky at best, and two, just in my opinion, something that would not be beneficial to anybody."

Anthony still faces a slew of legal problems even though the criminal charges have been resolved.

She has been sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars by a Texas group that searched for Caylee in the weeks after she was reported missing, and prosecutors are seeking to recoup the cost of their investigation into Caylee's disappearance.

Anthony also is being sued for defamation by a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez who claims she has been harassed and unable to find work after Anthony alleged Caylee was kidnapped by a baby sitter with Gonzalez' name. The woman's attorneys had wanted to depose Anthony before she left jail, but the deposition was rescheduled for October.

Any of those civil cases could put a major dent in any money Anthony receives for writing a book, signing a movie deal or doing interviews. Anthony is broke, and her defense team was paid for with taxpayers' money after $200,000 she received from ABC News was spent.

Several book publishers contacted by The Associated Press said they knew of no memoir that was being shopped around and consider her too tainted to sign a deal.

Anthony could avoid the potential liability of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the lawsuits by filing for bankruptcy, though plaintiffs would probably attempt to keep her on the hook for damages if she signs lucrative deals after filing, said R. Scott Shuker, an Orlando bankruptcy attorney.

An important step in building a new life is getting psychological help to cope with her notoriety, severed family ties and newfound freedom, said attorneys with clients in similar circumstances.

"Everything she has been through, that's more than most people can deal with in a lifetime," said Daniel Meachum, an Atlanta attorney who has represented football player Michael Vick when he was convicted of dog fighting and actor Wesley Snipes when he was convicted of tax evasion.